“Oh my!” Jeffrey heard her coo, taking in a sharp breath. “Isn’t he lovely!”
“He sure is! Got that from me.” Sir Campbell smugly chipped making Jeffrey roll his eyes. He focused on his phone ignorant of the mighty scoff he’d let out which silenced the entire room.
His father recomposed himself and cleared his throat. “Jeffrey, I want you to meet Felicity… She’s going to be your new mother.”
“It’s a pleasure finally meeting you, Jeff! I’ve heard so much about you and can’t wait for us to get along.” She cheerfully beamed.
Jeffrey raised his head and shot her a hard glare, ultimately taking a good look at her.
The Californian beauty was a stunning shoulder length bottle blonde with black eyes that shone brighter than crystals. And oh, she had an exquisite aura…. weighing the amount of priceless pearls she had on.
Meanwhile, the new Madame, Felicity Campbell, was thrown off guard by the look on her step-son’s face!
“Firstly, you don’t get to call me ‘Jeff’. Only my family do, those outside this house. Secondly, you’re here to be his wife and not my mother, so know your place! And lastly, just because you introduced yourself, I’m certain you’re not expecting some warm welcome hug, are you?” He seethed.
The table was left dumbstruck by the viciousness of his voice, which surprised Jeffrey himself.
All his life, he had been the mellow and obedient son even when his choices and dignity had been trampled on. But that was the last shit Jeffrey was ever gonna take from his disappointment of a father!
“What has gotten into you, boy?! Where are your manners!” His father bellowed from across the table, glaring at the blatant disrespect.
Jeffrey gave him a double dose! The maids nervously peeked from where they stood in submission around the room, and even old Bernard wasn’t left out.
Felicity calmly placed a restraining hand on her husband’s and smiled, trying to salvage the rapidly growing hazardous situation.
But the indignant young heir wanted all eruptions to match his at that point! After putting him in neglect and pain for nineteen years, he deserved everything that was coming to him!
“M… manners?” He scoffed in disbelief. “I’m sorry? Are we talking manners now, Sir Williams?”
“What did you just say?” His father’s voice sunk into a growl.
“Whatever you heard.” Jeffrey dared a shrug, not caring to find out what part exactly, aggravated him the more. Then he scowled at the cowering maids.
“Or now, do I have to beg to be fed!” He snapped. They scrambled over to his side in a millisecond and fumbled around, almost spilling the first course, a warm drinking soup, on him.
As the last maid was about to scurry away, Jeffrey stopped her with a raise of his hand.
“I hope she didn’t cook this.” He questioned coldly, keeping his eyes lowered. The poor girl hastily nodded and he authoritatively waved her away.
Then the entire room became silent once again.
“It seems we got off on the wrong foot, Jeff… Jeffrey, I mean.” Felicity corrected when he sharply lifted his head.
“No, you didn’t.” Sir Williams Campbell, the successful business mogul stated, his voice a shade darker. “The arrogance attached to being captain of that stupid team has finally gotten into his head, I see.”
“Says the wonderful dad who’s used to blaming others for his incompetence! Whatever you see, know you created!” His voice matched his.
The look on Sir Campbell’s face was enough to give a baby convulsions! Everyone could feel the dark tension in the air as Sir Williams dropped his cutlery.
Still, Jeffrey showed no remorse.
“Please apologize to your father, Jeffrey.” Felicity whispered with a pleading look in her eyes.
“Father?” Jeffrey chuckled lightly, dropping his spoon as well. “You see, my father died the day MY MOTHER died. And he was long forgotten the second your husband selfishly acted on his own will, bringing you into this mansion, Mrs. Felicity!”
“Mind your words, young man! What the hell has gotten into you?!” He yelled and banged his fist on the table which made everyone jump, except Jeffrey.
There was no hidden fury in his eyes.
“I’m simply trying to have a quiet meal which you and your new wife is disturbing! Or what?!…” He snapped and looked at Felicity.
“Would simple Felicity be more suitable, huh?”
His dad stewed in his rage while the woman stared back and forth, feeling embarrassed and helpless at the same time.
Slightly satisfied with the day’s therapy, Jeffrey stood up with his phone, had a sip of water and walked away. Just like his father had been doing for the past nineteen years…
***
“Noo!” Natalia screamed in shock as Elva told her one of her deepest secrets.
Yup! Saturday night and they were celebrating their friendversay together and alone.
The duo selected the studio, a large room in their home which was practically empty aside a few musical instruments serving as decor. It had a perfect view of the city through the large glass windows.
Natalia and Elva had the room decorated with a camping theme. They spread out a large fur blanket with throw pillows everywhere. Trays of junk foods surrounded them on every side. And oh! A bottle of some non-alcoholic wine graced the occasion.
Elva couldn’t pronounce the name properly but leave it to the princess to blow your mind in linguistics!
The girls matched the same nighties, a white, silky strapped top with shorts. They braided their hair in fragments, then held it up together in a huge ponytail which made them look like Egyptian princesses!
The chandelier above was dimmed, little lamps like that of the Chinese were put up all over the place, giving it a magical golden glow. In summary, the scene of their friendversary date was perfect!
“Yes, I did! I didn’t notice when the notes flew away. I’m sorry!” Elva screamed back, giggling uncontrollably at the same time.
“You told me a baby sparrow flew by the window and awfully drooled on it. So it got dirty and you had to throw it away before I could return!” Natalia accused, looking red in the face.
Elva had just confessed to misplacing the royal speech which the princess was supposed to deliver on her 15th birthday…. and which had taken her weeks to prepare!
Natalia vividly remembered the day. She had some urgent royal duties to perform and had left the scripts in Elva’s care. But the intern assistant had been overwhelmed by all the work yet to be done and had left them on Natalia’s study table, next to the window.
Elva only noticed when the wind blew away the last piece of paper!
“And when you got so desperate and wanted to rummage through the trashcan, I told you that I’d burnt it and threw the ash into the air… You were so naive that you actually fell for it!” Elva fought the urge to laugh again but failed, miserably.
Natalia joined in and began beating up her best friend with a fluffy throw pillow as punishment like they’d arranged.
“Okay.” She let go after a while and returned to her place. “You promised to tell me the secret today. The one that’d been making you so sad?” Natalia’s Bambi eyes held worry.
Elva slowly nodded and sat well, sadness beginning to creep in. She told Natalia of her first love. How they met, their story. Elva told her everything.
Every particular detail.
“So what happened? Why did you guys break up?” The princess took her lip in, hugging her knees closer to herself.
Elva let out a tired breath. “He was too insecure, I guess. He always got all jumpy and suspicious whenever he saw me with someone else.”
“So, it was all about trust?”
“Yeah. We had this wonderful relationship, Nat. Even though he was an elite and attended one of the best schools in the city, he loved me… The poor girl living on social welfare. At least, that’s what I thought. We hung out almost every day after that night at the party. I automatically became a celebrity in school because I was dating a rich kid!” She stopped at the memory and let out a bitter chuckle.
“On a beautiful weekend, we were supposed to have a date at the movies but he cancelled at the last minute. We had an ugly confrontation… He looked so hurt asking me to deny some crazy photos of me and some random guy from school at that time.”
“Funny thing’s that I barely even noticed the dude except during class projects. The pictures were edited and I was clearly being framed… But he was too blinded by his insecurity and chose to believe it instead.”
“He broke up with me, Nat…” Her eyes became unnaturally brighter and her voice quavered.
“He didn’t even wait to listen to my side of the story. I was broken. I… I was hurting badly. I tried reaching out for days but it was like he…. He’d shut me out. Then… Then I heard of m… my parents…. ”
Natalia cut her off with a tight hug, tearing up with her. Elva pulled her closer, not embarrassed to show that she was still awfully hurting. The damn bastard was still awfully in her heart!
After a few minutes, the two friends slowly disengaged and wiped each other’s tears.
“Hey, it’s his loss not yours, so stop wasting your priceless tears!” Natalia snapped and suddenly stood up aggressively.
“Who the heck does he think he is, huh?!” She yelled into thin air. “Gimme a name, an address, a school, anything! I’m gonna show the pathetic jackass the consequences of messing with MY best friend!” The bunny-looking girl ran her mouth like she could beat him up.
Elva genuinely laughed out.
“Crazy ass, it’s someone you know. It’s Ricky.” Natalia froze and stopped bouncing menacingly.
“Ricky Winterfield.”
“….”
***
Jeffrey spent the whole Saturday with Tommy De’ Argent who was excitedly looking forward to his sixth birthday party! They spent the day in the little fox’s bedroom mapping out and organizing his big plans…. which had everything to do with embarrassing his older brother.
Shuush! You can keep a secret right??
‘Funny kid.’ Jeffrey thought and chuckled as he drove back to the Campbell mansion in a good mood. He bumped into Felicity at the hallway with his dad nowhere in sight or earshot.
Jeffrey couldn’t even pretend to be shocked. Weren’t they supposed to have some sort of honeymoon or something?
“How was your day, Jeff? I was hoping to catch you in time to have dinner with me.” Felicity beamed, glancing towards the dinning room where she’d personally laid out the dinner she made for the both of them.
Seeing her genuine smile which radiated a feeling of love, it wasn’t hard for the young Campbell to see why his dad fell in love again. Something warm pricked Jeffrey’s heart against his will.
Jeffrey really wasn’t mad at his stepmother, but he didn’t want anyone taking his mom’s place. Moreover, so easily either. So he ignored the part where she called him Jeff and coldly looked away.
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. I had a late lunch.” He took a step to leave. Felicity gently held him back. Jeffrey snapped his frosty eyes to her soft ones.
“Jeffrey, I know everything happened so fast and most importantly, without putting into consideration your feelings. And I apologize on behalf of both me and your father. We were wrong, we could’ve done better. However, I hope you’d give us a chance to be and do better going forward.” She held his eyes.
Jeffrey was held in place, tongue tied. He felt turmoil within. A rivalry between his personality and his righteous anger. He felt his heart growing soft again, back to the way it was.
But one thought of his ever remorseless boss of a father, and it all froze suddenly, relenting. Feeling a hopeful spark in her heart, Felicity smiled sweetly once more before letting go and wishing him a lovely night…
Chapter 25